COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTIONWhen two gypsies team up with an arrogant bastard, there is bound to be some criminal activity...better to view this project as a conspiracy rather than a collaboration. The strengths of all involved were utilized to break the laws of style guidelines...dark with deception, mysteriously smoked, unexplainably dry, and intriguingly hoppy...maybe it’s best not to even talk about it.

Found a notebook of old written reviews from 2012/2013. Pours a nearly opaque black body with a finger of frothy, splotchy tan head. The aroma is complicatedly complex with a light smoked earth notes atop, roasted malts, coffee, chocolate and a estery saison base. Nice and rich first sip with light espresso notes that balance with the smoky malts. Dark and complex saison style flavour. A meld of fruity, spicy esters and rich, robust malts. A nice experiment.

bottle. Near black with one finger head. I’ve yet to have a dark saison that hit the spot for me. Malty chocolate base kind of overpowers any of the other elements that I associate with the Saison style. There’s a little bit of smoke here, but it’s very subtle.

Bottle at home poured into a snifter. Deep brown to black in color, rather thin looking with a mild one-half finger head that was brief. Not much lacing. The aroma was raosted malts, slight smokieness (nothing like a true raushbier), bread, cereal, and dark fruits. The taste is more like mild roasted malts, not much campfire, bread, slight pine hoppiness, and some dark prune or plums. Overall the taste was fine but a little underwhelming in flavors. Thin body, easy to drink. Finish is slightly roasted malts and a little hop bitterness.

February 21st, 2013 - Breaking guidelines seems to be a trend in my review list these days, though the collaborative "The Perfect Crime" is more explicit about its intentions. Does it live up to the hype? How egregiously does it snap it’s "Smoked" label over its own knee? Well, it certainly looks like it’s in the Rauch camp, with a deep, dark body, and a darker-than-tan head. And the nose is smokey too, with a touch of smoked peat and some grape sugar. But the smoked element is on the milder side, almost as if the aroma were a smoked food, like almonds, and not just the smell of smoke. That’s a plus, but not a style defying jab to the man. The flavor is also similarly smoky, though more carbonated than many smoked beers I’ve had, and more of the mineral water quality too. The aftertaste improves on the foretaste, introducing the peat found in the nose, but also turning up the acidity for a better and more interesting balance. The Perfect Crime is a unique twist on smoked beers, but I don’t think it evades categorization. That’s okay - what I want is something that is appreciably complex, and while those first few seconds of the flavor are a nadir, the rest of this beer’s qualities are engaging.

Transfer from BA review on 6-30-13-
Poured from bottle into a pint glass
Appearance – The beer pours a very deep brown, bordering on black, color with a two finger cream colored head. The head is rather fluffy with it fading relatively quickly and it leaving behind a decent level of lace on the sides of the glass.
Smell – The aroma is a rather interesting blend of smells. There is a rather stronger aroma of char, roasted malt, and some smoke with notes of a yeasty and bready smell as well. Mixed with these aromas are some others of citrus and some spice as well as lots of funk composed of some hay and grassy smells mixed within.
Taste – The taste begins with a roasted malt flavor with hints of darker fruits mixed within. There is a sourness upfront that is accompanied by a lighter yeasty and grassy flavor. The sourness increases with a funkiness developing as the taste moves on more toward the end. A bit of a citrus hop as well as some flavors of pine, smoke and char all come to the tongue at the end, leaving a rather sour and tart toasted flavor on the tongue.
Mouthfeel – The body of the beer is rather light in its creaminess and thickness with a carbonation level that is on the higher side and consists of lots of little carbonation bubbles. These lighter characteristics are great for all the yeast and citrus saison flavors of the brew, but not the best for the wood, roast and smoke flavors in my opinion. It think this is one thought that is hard to compromise between the differing flavors.
Overall – This was an interesting and actually quite enjoyable brew. The mix of darker roasted and char flavors with that of yeast, sourness and funk combined to produce a rather tasty combination. This is certainly one to try if you can find it.

12 oz. bottle from Market Wines. The guy who cashed me out said this was awesome; it was the last bottle and I knew it was a collaboration I’d missed, but didn’t notice the ’2012’ on the neck. Sheesh. Anyway, it pours a dark cocoa brown with a small beige head that lasts as a ring and some wisps of film. Aroma of mild smoked malts, chocolate, caramel, mild spice, leather, toast, roast, earth, cardboard, and a little salt. Flavor of earth, roast, baker’s chocolate, mellow smoke, roots, dark fruit, and slightly burnt toast. Light-medium bodied, with carbonation that starts low before opening up and bubbling on the palate. Lingering roast and mellow smoke. The Belgian influence can be detected, but it’s minimal here. Definitely showing its age after two years.

12 ounce bottle purchased a little over 1.5 years ago at Holiday Wine Cellar ($3.99). Pours a dark brown hue with two fingers of tan foam. AROMA of Belgian yeast, chocolate malts, mild citrus, and smoke. FLAVOR of citric hops, lemon iced tea, touch of sourness (not infected), and dark malts which lead into significant and lingering ash/smoke in the finish. Again, a roasty-bitter (rather than hoppy-bitter) and also dry finish with lesser fruity notes of citrus and dark stone fruit. Interesting concept and probably executed well (though I have to question the whole concept of a "black saison"), but there is a lot happening here and the sum is unfortunately not greater than the parts. (395, 874)

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